Category Archives: Gadgets

What To Pack When Teaching in China

Gadgets, Online Learning, Travel, , ,
Great Wall of China

Great Wall of China

I was in China recently (first time!) showing Chinese teachers how online learning is conducted in the U.S. Before leaving for China, I diligently checked on what to pack. I made some good decisions. I made some bad decisions. This post hopefully helps others about to make that long journey to a fascinating country.

My style of presenting and teaching is to use a MacBook Air, recording myself with a BT-1 Bluetooth camera (positioned towards the back of the room) and ScreenFlow.

Clothes

I was in Beijing in June. Hot and humid. Definitely worth checking the weather before visiting. Chinese culture is not particularly bothered about formal attire, so no need to pack a business suite or dress shoes. For teaching in June, lightweight hot-weather clothing is the way to go:

  • Plenty of short-sleeve shirts
  • Semi-formal trousers (TravelSmith has a range designed for heat and humidity, or you can go Outlier)
  • Performance trousers (for visits to all the tourist sites)
  • One pair comfortable walking shoes. Go for something lightweight and breathable.
  • Underwear
  • Hat
  • Umbrella (keeps off both the rain and sun)
  • Packable rain-jacket

Technology

Chinese airport security is more restrictive than in the U.S., you may be able to bring something into China, but taking it back on the airplane may be more difficult. One of the most useful gadgets I had on the trip (HooToo TripMate Wireless N Portable Travel Router with 6000mAh Battery Charger) was confiscated as I was leaving Beijing Capital International Airport. The reason was that it had a battery that lacked “proper wording” (officially declared capacity). My understanding is you want to have less than 100 watt-hours, and for this to be clearly stated on the device.

Typical Chinese Electrical Outlet

Typical Chinese Electrical Outlet

Whilst teaching, I was in typical Chinese classroom. Projectors worked with either VGA or HDMI connections; so having adapters for both was a must (which is where the Cable Matters® Mini DisplayPort to HDMI/DVI/VGA Male to Female 3-in-1 Adapter comes in very useful). Internet speeds could be slower than what I was used to, and WiFi could be slower than a wired connection – this is where bringing my own router and Ethernet cable brought dividends.

Essential iPhone Apps

Explore Beijing Subway Map

Explore Beijing Subway Map

Explore Beijing Subway Map

Beijing’s Metro is fantastic (and rapidly expanding). New lines and stations are coming to service. This app helps you navigate, and has maps for each station

Express VPN

Express VPN

Express VPN

A VPN is required in China to access sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google.

Learn Chinese – Mandarin Phrasebook for Travel in China

Learn Chinese

Learn Chinese

English is not commonly spoken in China. A phrasebook is essential.

Miscellaneous

Open-Sankoré Alternative: OpenBoard

Gadgets, Online Learning, , , ,

Open-Sankoré does not work with OS X Yosemite. If you run the program in OS X 10.10, Open-Sankoré closes immediately. The only workaround I have discovered is rolling back to OS X 10.9 (Mavericks). The Open-Sankoré website does not provide much insight on when this issue might be fixed. However, it looks like there may be an alternative…

OpenBoard

OpenBoard

Using Google Translate, I can see that SEM-Logistics and Christian Oihenart have released a version of OpenBoard that works on OS X Yosemite (although there is apparently a small bug in the display of the dock). I have not installed or tested OpenBoard, and have no idea how well this might work, but it is now on my radar.

Update: 30th July, 2015

The old link to OpenBoard is dead. This new one seems to work.

Jorno – My New Bluetooth Keyboard

Gadgets, , , , , , ,
Jorno

The Jorno Arrives

I started to write this a month ago, and just posted now… Probably not terribly excited about the new keyboard.

Unboxing The Jorno

Unboxing The Jorno

A new Bluetooth folding keyboard arrived on my doorstep yesterday, this was the Jorno. It had taken several years to get to me, being a Kickstarter campaign I had supported back in 2013.

The Jorno

The Jorno

So was it worth the wait?

Folded

Folded

Sort of. The Jorno is aesthetically pleasing, and seems to be fairly solidly constructed. For those situations where I need a portable keyboard that packs easily into a bag or jacket pocket, then this will be the one that I use (until I find something better). I have a Reudo folding keyboard, that is a tad smaller and lighter, but the Jorno feels a little better constructed. I have an old Stowaway, that is considerable smaller and lighter, but the Stowaway only has three lines of keys – making things less convenient through the use of chording to access numeric keys.

Reudo Folding Keyboard and the Jorno

Reudo Folding Keyboard and the Jorno

However, the promise of the Jorno feels to be far more exciting that the reality. The promised folding mechanism of the prototype was something that excited me. What I type on now is far more prosaic. Particularly given the numerous missed deadlines to get this keyboard to market. Other KickStarter backers were incensed by the lack of updates from Scott Starrett over the past few years. I don’t think they are going to be mollified by what has now been delivered.

Open-Sankoré Error – Don’t Update to OS X Yosemite

Gadgets, Internet, Online Learning, , , ,

 

Open-Sankoré Error MessageIf using Open-Sankoré, don’t make the mistake I made and update to OS X 10.10 Yosemite.  I learnt this the hard way. The Open-Sankoré website does not post this prominently, but Open-Sankoré will not run on Yosemite (there are some discussions hidden away on the support boards). According to their Open-Sankoré Facebook page, Open-Sankoré will be updated in late November and should work again. The Facebook message reads as follows:Open-Sankoré Facebook Message

 

Unfortunately we know this problem for a few weeks with the beta version. Apple changed several important elements that prevents QT to work correctly in Yosemite. We will work to correct this problem as soon as possible (probably late November). Thank you for your patience.

Only workaround at the moment is to rollback to OS X Mavericks. This can be done, but might be a tad painful.

Update (24th November, 2014)

Looks like January of 2015 is when Open-Sankoré is most likely to be updated (according to this post) to work with OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

Captioning (Subtitles) and Transcription On The Cheap

Gadgets, Online Learning, , , , , , , , , , ,

Dictate

One idea that has been bouncing about my head, but I have yet to fully investigate, is creating captions/subtitles on the cheap. Paying a third party to provide this  transcription service can get expensive – you can expect to pay $1 a minute, although there are places where you can go for a cheaper  deal.

However, there are automated services like Siri, OS X Dictation, or Dragon Dictate. YouTube will automatically create a transcript when you upload a video (although the accuracy might not be there), and this text file can be downloaded and edited.

My thoughts are to take a regular video recording, and then parse it into one of these services. I just have not got round to this yet, but may give it a go soon.

Dragon Dictate looks like it has part of this capability, but costs about $200 and works with one voice only (no good for interviews).

The two approaches that look like they will work best for me (for free) are:

  1. Uploading an audio or video file to YouTube, and then editing the transcribed text file.
  2. Using Soundflower to send an audio file into the OS X Dictation service. This post from Level Up Lunch describes the process.

Option 1 is the way to go with video. The process here is going to synch the transcription with the video. Option 2 will be realtime, but could be useful for situations where I do not have Internet connectivity, or just want a text file.